I met many
acquaintances on the same errand. None of us seemed to realize that day
what was to be done. For four years our campaigns had been planned for us.
I learned from one acquaintance, however, that I could have rations for the
asking, and not long after found myself in line at the United States
Commissary Department, along with hundreds of others, and departed thence
bearing a goodly portion of hardtack and codfish. These I took to Mammy,
who cooked the fish for me under loud protests against the smell.
Not long thereafter a number of us paroled soldiers made a mess, and cooked
for ourselves at the room of one of them.
On one of these indeterminate days--dates had become nothing to me--I saw a
dapper young man sketching about the ruins. I spoke to him, and mentioned
that his had been my profession. This acquaintance was the beginning of
hope.
I showed the young man places of interest, gave him points about a good
many things, and at last fell to making sketches to help him out. They were
perfectly satisfactory and liberally paid for. With this capital I set
myself up in another place, which had a north light--by-the-way, I had been
dispossessed of the asylum where I first found shelter, as the previous
tenant returned.
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